Stir"rage (?), n. The act of stirring; stir; commotion. [Obs.] T.
Granger.
Stir"rer (?), n. One who, or that which, stirs something; also, one who
moves about, especially after sleep; as, an early stirrer. Shak.
Stirrer up, an instigator or inciter. Atterbury.
Stir"ring (?), a. Putting in motion, or being in motion; active; active
in business; habitually employed in some kind of business; accustomed
to a busy life.
A more stirring and intellectual age than any which had gone before
it.
Southey.
Syn. -- Animating; arousing; awakening; stimulating; quickening;
exciting.
Stir"rup (?), n. [OE. stirop, AS. stigrp; stgan to mount, ascend + rp a
rope; akin to G. stegreif a stirrup. √164. See Sty, v. i., and
Rope.] 1. A kind of ring, or bent piece of metal, wood, leather, or the
like, horizontal in one part for receiving the foot of a rider, and
attached by a strap to the saddle, -- used to assist a person in
mounting a horse, and to enable him to sit steadily in riding, as well
as to relieve him by supporting a part of the weight of the body.
Our host upon his stirpoes stood anon.
Chaucer.
2. (Carp. & Mach.) Any piece resembling in shape the stirrup of a
saddle, and used as a support, clamp, etc. See Bridle iron.
3. (Naut.) A rope secured to a yard, with a thimble in its lower end
for supporting a footrope. Totten.
Stirrup bone (Anat.), the stapes. -- Stirrup cup, a parting cup taken
after mounting. -- Stirrup iron, an iron stirrup. -- Stirrup leather,
or Stirrup strap, the strap which attaches a stirrup to the saddle. See
Stirrup, 1.
Stirt (?), obs. p. p. of Start, v. i. Started; leaped.
They privily be stirt into a well.
Chaucer.
Stir"te (?), obs. imp. of Start, v. i. & t. Chaucer.
Stitch (?), n. [OE. stiche, AS. stice a pricking, akin to stician to
prick. See Stick, v. i.] 1. A single pass of a needle in sewing; the
loop or turn of the thread thus made.
2. A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link, or
loop, of yarn; as, to let down, or drop, a stitch; to take up a stitch.
3. [Cf. OE. sticche, stecche, stucche, a piece, AS. stycce. Cf. Stock.]
A space of work taken up, or gone over, in a single pass of the needle;
hence, by extension, any space passed over; distance.
You have gone a good stitch.
Bunyan.
In Syria the husbandmen go lightly over with their plow, and take
no deep stitch in making their furrows.
Holland.
4. A local sharp pain; an acute pain, like the piercing of a needle;
as, a stitch in the side.
He was taken with a cold and with stitches, which was, indeed, a
pleurisy.
Bp. Burnet.